James Gandolfini's body returns to New Jersey

ROME -- The body of "The Sopranos" actor James Gandolfini arrived in the United States on Sunday night.

A plane carrying the Emmy Award winner arrived at New Jersey's Newark airport at 9:30 p.m. ET, according to a source. Earlier, airport authorities confirmed that he was flown out of the Rome's Fiumicino Airport aboard a private flight.

An HBO spokesperson speaking on behalf of the family told NBC New York that the funeral was scheduled for Thursday at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in Manhattan.

Earlier, a family friend of the Gandolfinis had said the process of repatriation had been expedited with help from the Italian and U.S. authorities, including Secretary of State John Kerry.

"We are fully aware that this process usually takes seven days and we are extremely grateful for their efficiency in dealing with this matter," Michael Kobold said in a statement. "It has been our privilege to be guests in your beautiful country, despite the difficult circumstances."

Kobold had previously announced at a news conference Friday that an autopsy showed "The Sopranos" star died of a "heart attack of natural causes" and "nothing else was found in his system."

The 51-year-old suffered the heart attack in the bathroom of his room at the Hotel Boscolo in Rome while on vacation with his teenage son, Michael, and sister, Kobold told reporters.

"James came here on vacation with family," Kobold said. "On Wednesday he went to visit the Vatican, and had dinner at the hotel with his son while waiting for his sister ... All are devastated for his loss. He was a loving father."

"He was happy, healthy, on vacation with his son," Kobold said. "He was fine."

Medical staff attempted to resuscitate Gandofini after his son found him in the bathroom, but he was pronounced dead at about 11 p.m. local time (5 p.m. ET) Wednesday at Policlinico Umberto I hospital, which is a three-minute drive from the hotel.

Dr. John Harold, president of the American College of Cardiology and a heart specialist at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that “in many patients who have a heart attack, the first symptom is sudden death and they don’t even make it to a hospital.”

Brad Pitt described Gandolfini as “a ferocious actor, a gentle soul and a genuinely funny man." “I am fortunate to have sat across the table from him and am gutted by this loss.”

Gandolfini also made a good impression on the ordinary people he met.

An employee at the Hotel Boscolo told Italy's la Repubblica newspaper that during his stay the actor had signed autographs and was “very friendly with us from hotel's staff and with other guests in the restaurant. A nice person.”